Residential fire extinguisher cabinet

ABSTRACT

A cabinet for storing a fire extinguisher in a residence, which cabinet is aesthetically compatible with typical residential decor. The cabinet has a sheet metal back box and an outwardly projecting flange bearing holes for receiving a wall anchor for securement to dry wall material. The open interior of the back box is dimensioned and configured to receive and store a fire extinguisher. A decorative door covers the interior of the back box and the fire extinguishers. In alternative embodiments, the door may be finished wood or finished metal. The door has hinges disposed to maintain the door in a fully open position and to urge the door closed if it is not in the fully open position. An alarm powered by a battery activates an audible or visible alarm when the fire extinguisher is removed.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority in accordance with 35 U.S.C. §119(2) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/384,093 filed May 31, 2002.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to a cabinet intended to be mounted in the wall of a residence, for housing a fire extinguisher for ready access.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] It has long been conventional to provide hand held fire extinguishers in publicly used buildings such as schools. Residences have not been routinely provided with fire extinguishers. However, residences are just as susceptible to hazards which could be addressed by hand held fire extinguishers, even though relatively small extinguishers suitable for use in residences are commercially available. It appears that two reasons for this prevail. One is that homes are not designed to provide unobtrusive, readily acceptable storage locations for fire extinguishers. The other is that the utilitarian appearance of fire extinguishers renders home occupiers reluctant to impair the decor of their residences.

[0006] Wall mounted cabinets which would be suitable for fire extinguishers are available, but have not gained widespread acceptance. Such cabinets are quite utilitarian in appearance and hence are regarded as spoiling the appearance of a room in which such a cabinet is mounted. A second objection to most cabinets suitable for housing a fire extinguisher is that they are designed for attachment to vertical structural wall studs. While this results in solid anchorage to the building, it also severely limits location of a fire extinguisher cabinet to locations at the immediate right and left of a stud. These locations may well result in an awkward or aesthetically unpleasing location of a cabinet on a wall. Illustratively, it may be desirable to center a cabinet in a wall for aesthetic reasons, where a stud may not necessarily be conveniently available.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The present invention addresses the two foremost objections to presently available cabinets for housing and making accessible fire extinguishers. One feature of the present invention is that it is adapted to be mounted in hollow interior walls and partitions built from “sheet rock”, plasterboard, or the like independently from attachment to vertical studs. The novel cabinet can therefore be built into a residence in the course of initial construction, and can be readily installed as a retrofit accessory to an existing building. A second significant feature of the invention is that that portion of the cabinet which is permanently exposed to view is of an aesthetically pleasing material.

[0008] Additional features of the invention which promote utility in residential settings include a hinge arrangement which maintains the door in a fully open position when manually fully opened, and which also biases the door to return to the closed position if it is not fully open. An alarm is provided to warn the occupants of the residence when the fire extinguisher has been removed from the cabinet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Various other objects, features, and attendant advantages of the present invention will become more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

[0010]FIG. 1 is an environmental side elevational, cross sectional view of an embodiment of the novel cabinet.

[0011]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the back box of the novel cabinet.

[0012]FIG. 3 is an electrical schematic of alarm circuitry of the novel cabinet.

[0013]FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of an alternative embodiment of the invention, wherein only the door is visible.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Turning now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, novel cabinet 10 is shown installed in an interior partition or wall 12 of a building (not shown in its entirety). Cabinet 10 comprises a back box 14 closed by a swinging door 16. Back box 14 mounts directly to one sheet 18 of drywall material. Because it is sized for conventional construction, the rear of back box 14 abuts or nearly abuts the opposing sheet 20 of drywall material of wall 12.

[0015] An opening is formed in sheet 18 of drywall material for accommodating back box 14. Back box 14 is placed into the hollow wall 12 and seats against the edges of the opening. Wall anchors 17 secure back box 14 in place in wall 12. Wall anchors 17 are preferably a commercially available spring loaded type which will elastically grip sheet 18, pinning flanges 22, 24, 26, 28 (see FIG. 2) to sheet 18. The weight of cabinet 10, including that of fire extinguisher 30, is imposed on the lower edge of the opening formed in sheet 18 of drywall material.

[0016] Turning momentarily to FIG. 2, back box 14 is seen to comprise a rear wall 32, right and left side walls 34, 36, a top wall 38, and a bottom wall 40. The front of back box 14 is open to afford access to fire extinguisher 30 (FIG. 1). Flanges 22, 24, 26, 28 project outwardly from walls 34, 36, 38, and 40, respectively to assure flush mounting of back box 14 in the opening formed in sheet 18. Flanges 22, 24, 26, 28 also have holes 42 for receiving the wall anchors. Additional holes (not shown) are preferably provided for receiving screws (not shown) for mounting hinges 48, 50 (see FIG. 1) to back box 14. Hinges 48, 50 are of a type which incorporates a cam (not separately shown) or other functionally equivalent structure which causes door 16 to remain open when swung to its fully open position, and to close if not fully open. Hinges 48, 50 are also screwed to door 16.

[0017] Back box 14 includes an alarm feature for sensing and annunciating removal of fire extinguisher 30 from back box 14, in order to alert a responsible occupant of the residence that fire extinguisher 30 is missing. A sensor such as pressure responsive switch 44 is located on bottom wall 40 of back box 14. The circuit of the alarm feature is shown in FIG. 3. Switch 44 has normally closed contacts (not separately shown) which open responsive to weight of fire extinguisher 30 being placed on switch 44. When fire extinguisher 30 is removed from back box 14, the contacts of switch 44 close and illuminate an alarm lamp 46. The circuit preferably includes a dry cell or similar battery 52. Lamp 46 is placed at any suitably conspicuous location, such as in door 16. Lamp 46 may be replaced or supplemented by an audible alarm (not shown) if desired.

[0018] If desired, the alarm feature could be arranged to detect and annunciate a predetermined weight threshold which would correlate with objectionable depletion of fire extinguisher 30. Of course, other forms of depletion detection and annunciation (none shown) could be incorporated if desired.

[0019] Door 16 displays a decorative finish, not shown, to complement or enhance interior decor. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, door 16 is finished wood. In other embodiments, shown in FIG. 4, door 54 may be of unpainted finished metal, taking the form of, for example, aluminum, brass, or other sheet metal. The sheet metal may be an unfinished structural metal such as steel which is metal plated to provide a suitable aesthetic appearance different from that of the structural metal. Suitable finishes include polishing, anodizing, and peening, among others. The decorative finishes offer consumers a choice among a number of appearances that will be compatible with most interior decorating schemes, so that painting or other treatment by the consumer will not be necessary.

[0020] In the preferred embodiment, back box 14 cooperates with conventional construction of interior walls and partitions. The preferred constituent material is sheet metal. In this embodiment, the following dimensions of back box 14 are preferred. The depth of the interior of back box 14 is within the range of approximately three to five inches, and to fit flushly into most interior building partitions without protrusion at either surface of a partition, is preferably about three and three quarter inches. The height of the opening of back box 14, as shown in FIG. 1, is preferably approximately sixteen inches. The width of the opening of back box 14 is approximately five inches. Flanges 22, 24, 26, 28 extend outwardly from their respective walls 36, 40, 34, and 38 by approximately five eights of an inch. The outer periphery of flanges 22, 24, 26, 28 may be modified from the configuration depicted in FIG. 2 to form a rectangle at their outermost edges, if desired. Door 16 is just great enough in height and width to conceal flanges 22, 24, 26, 28 as well as the open front of back box 14 from casual view.

[0021] Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating conditions and environments or designs will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the examples chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers changes and modifications that do not constitute departures from the true scope of this invention.

[0022] Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims. 

I claim:
 1. An aesthetic cabinet for housing a fire extinguisher, comprising: a back box having a rear wall, a right side wall, a left side wall, a top wall, a bottom wall, and flanges each projecting from one of said right side wall, said left side wall, said top wall, and said bottom wall, and an open front, each said flange having at least one hole for receiving a fastener for fastening said back box to drywall material; a door movable between a fully open position revealing said open front of said back box and a closed position closing said open front of said back box, said door having hinges disposed to fastening said door pivotally to said back box, wherein said hinges are disposed to hold said door in the fully open position and to urge said door to close when said door is not in the fully open position, and wherein said door has a finished wood outer surface; and an alarm comprising a sensor disposed to sense presence of a fire extinguisher placed within said back box, and a visible alarm which is activated when the fire extinguisher is removed from said back box.
 2. The cabinet according to claim 1, further including a fire extinguisher dimensioned and configured to be received and stored within said back box and to be accessible for removal from said open front of said back box.
 3. The cabinet according to claim 1, further including a plurality of wall anchors dimensioned and configured to pass through said holes of said flanges of said back box and to engage said flanges of said back box when tightened against a supporting environmental substrate which abuts said flanges when said back box is mounted to the supporting environmental substrate.
 4. The cabinet according to claim 3, wherein said wall anchors are of a spring loaded type disposed to urge said flanges against the supporting environmental substrate.
 5. The cabinet according to claim 1, wherein the depth of said back box from said rear wall to a said flange is within a range of three to five inches.
 6. The cabinet according to claim 5, wherein the depth of said back box from said rear wall to said flange is about three and three quarter inches.
 7. The cabinet according to claim 6, wherein said back box has a height from said top wall to said bottom wall of about sixteen inches, a width from said right wall to said left wall of about five inches, and said flanges extend outwardly from said back box by about five eighths of an inch.
 8. The cabinet according to claim 1, further including an audible alarm disposed to sense and annunciate removal of a fire extinguisher from said back box.
 9. An aesthetic cabinet for housing a fire extinguisher, comprising: a back box having a rear wall, a right side wall, a left side wall, a top wall, a bottom wall, and flanges each projecting from one of said right side wall, said left side wall, said top wall, and said bottom wall, and an open front, each said flange having at least one hole for receiving a fastener for fastening said back box to drywall material; a door movable between a fully open position revealing said open front of said back box and a closed position closing said open front of said back box, said door having hinges disposed to fastening said door pivotally to said back box, wherein said hinges are disposed to hold said door in the fully open position and to urge said door to close when said door is not in the fully open position, and wherein said door has an unpainted, polished metallic outer surface; and an alarm comprising a sensor disposed to sense presence of a fire extinguisher placed within said back box, and a visible alarm which is activated when the fire extinguisher is removed from said back box.
 10. The cabinet according to claim 9, further including a fire extinguisher dimensioned and configured to be received and stored within said back box and to be accessible for removal from said open front of said back box.
 11. The cabinet according to claim 9, further including a plurality of wall anchors dimensioned and configured to pass through said holes of said flanges of said back box and to engage said flanges of said back box when tightened against a supporting environmental substrate which abuts said flanges when said back box is mounted to the supporting environmental substrate.
 12. The cabinet according to claim 11, wherein said wall anchors are of a spring loaded type disposed to urge said flanges against the supporting environmental substrate.
 13. The cabinet according to claim 9, wherein the depth of said back box from said rear wall to a said flange is within a range of three to five inches.
 14. The cabinet according to claim 13, wherein the depth of said back box from said rear wall to said flange is about three and three quarter inches.
 15. The cabinet according to claim 4, wherein said back box has a height from said top wall to said bottom wall of about sixteen inches, a width from said right wall to said left wall of about five inches, and said flanges extend outwardly from said back box by about five eighths of an inch.
 16. The cabinet according to claim 9, further including an audible alarm disposed to sense and annunciate removal of a fire extinguisher from said back box. 